Loneliness & Longing in Film: Highlights from 10 of the Most Profound Movies I’ve Seen

I was asked to do a movie challenge, and I did.

A challenge to 10 images of movies having made an impact on my life. 10 movies, 10 images, 10 days, no explanation. Afterwards, it got me thinking about the themes present in the movies I chose. I found it hard to post only a pic without any explanation. After my first post, I added a quote from the movie. Then I posted a clip of a favorite scene within the comments. Perhaps, the ‘challenge’ was to have others identify the movie from the image. I found it more fun to spark discussion as to why these movies had an impact on me.

I decided to choose movies I saw as an adult, since from a kid’s perspective I found many movies impactful. It would be too difficult to choose only 10 movies from childhood! There’s definitely more than 10 impactful movies from adulthood, but they are catalogued differently in mind than childhood movies. I figured it would be fun to see which one’s came up for me at the time of doing this challenge.

Most of my film choices are well-written, character-driven dramas. They have many emotional moments, with messages I’d classify as deep or provocative. For me, the most profund moments come in the form of emotional resonance. What are the characters feeling? How do their feelings inform their choices and actions? I like exploring the question “why do I care so much about this character?” What has me invested and caring about how the movie plays out?